wasps were granted veteran status 33 years after they had been disbanded. in 2010 at the efforts of four congress women, one of whom hutchison, the wasps were given awarded the congressional gold medal of honor which is the highest civilian honor bestowed by congress. [ applause ] >> my wasp colleagues distinguished guests our families and our friends, i am humbled to have been asked to

represent the wasps today. every single one of these ladies deserves to be standing where i am standing. [ applause ] >> it was passed in record time in congress and the event was held in march of 2010 with the largest body of people ever in the u.s. emancipation hall at the capital. approximately 200 wasps were able to attend the ceremony and wasps deany bishop parish accepted the medal. she accepted it on behalf of all of them. the original medal was given to the smithsonian institution as directed by the bill that president barack obama had signed. the story of wasps is one that

even though they were granted veteran status and awarded congressional gold medal of honor it is a story that not a lot of people are familiar with. they didn't ask for all of this credit. they came to serve their country and did something when america needed them at a time and they came together and released men to fly overseas during world war ii to help america win this war. and when it was done they packed up their bags, paid their way home and left it at that. so these women really changed the face of america's military at a time when their country needed them. that is the story that we are currently here telling at the texas state history museum. # . we are in the private suite of linden and lady bird johnson. this was private quarters for the president and first lady. when i say private i mean that. this is not part of a tour that is offered to the public.

this had never been opened to the public. you are seeing it because of c-span's special access. vips come into this space as they did in lyndon johnson's day. it's not open to our visitors on a daily basis. and the remarkable thing about this space is it is really a living, breathing artifact. it hasn't changed at all since president johnson died in january of 1973. there is a document in the corner of this room signed by among others the then archivist of the united states telling my predecessors myself and successors that nothing in this room can change. this is just as president johnson would have seen it in his day. there have been a number of luminaires in this room, seven presidents have strided through these rooms, six first ladies the queen of england prince philip prince charles, princess

diana all have been in this room and looks exactly as we see it now. there is a famous interview that lbj did in the early 1970s in which lbj is sitting in that chair and walter cronkite in that couch. you see exactly what you see right now. the president was alive for about a year and a half when this library was built. it was inaugurated. he had a limited time during which he was a part of this library's life. lady bird johnson continued to make it an important part of her life until she died in 2007. this library is as much about her touch as it is her husband's. throughout the room there are

some wonderful artifacts that the johnsons collected while they were in the white house. some come from heads of state. others come from friends of theirs who gave the johnsons gifts for the presidential library or for the white house that were then brought to this space. one such item is this painting by diego rivera. one of 16 cube s paintings done during the course of his career. it was given to president johnson from the president of mexico during a state visit there during the course of johnson's presidency. another painting on the right by charles russell the famous painter of western scenes. and this was a painting that hung at the lbj ranch that the

johnsons subsequently gave to their library. in this case in between there are many gifts that were given to the johnsons by friends and in some cases by heads of state including a wonderful solid gold representation of the moon where there is a diamond where the sea of tranquillity is located. sea of tranquillity is where neil armstrong and buzz aldrin first landed on the moon. president johnson, of course, was very active in the space program. although the mission occurred after he left the oval office it was very much part of his efforts that we actually made it to the moon. this is a small private office set up for president johnson. it was meant to model the private office at the oval office. through that door is our replica

of the johnson oval office. this is his small study that he used on occasion. it includes a very long couch very long because johnson often took naps. they ended up being horizontal working sessions more often than opportunity to slumber but long to accommodate his 6'3" frame. recently when we had the civil rights summit here at the lbj presidential library president carter took a nap on this, as well. at least two former presidents have slept on that couch. this is a small desk that president johnson used in the private office. he spent a great deal of time there when he worked as president. a lot of the work of his presidency was done on this desk.

president johnson was a major consumer of the news. he monitored it very, very careful. those three television sets were set up so that he could see simultaneously all three major news broadcasts simultaneously. and there is a remote control there, very primitive remote control that allowed him to isolate the sounds on two of the sets so that he could hear the sound on one of them. this is at a time when there were only three broadcast networks, cbs, abc and nbc. so it was far easier to monitor the news than it is today. pbs actually was a fourth network introduced by lyndon johnson through legislation signed in 1967 creating not only pbs but also national public radio. i mentioned earlier that this

suite has not changed since president johnson died in 1973. and the rug that i will show you in what is a bathroom is ilustrative of that. you can see the neon green anyone who is over 45 years of age will recognize it is probably the same color of the rug in their dens. this was a very popular color at the time. so you would see the things in the suite. if we could that's the one thing i want. i would like to have a near reproduction as finances and architectural requirements permit. i'm not saying 18 feet high or 14 or 38 feet long. might have a little card on the door to say this is not an exact reproduction but i would like for it to be such and say to get

an impression that here is where the president worked. they all want to see that. that is what they come to see. >> here we are in lbj's oval office. most of the presidential libraries have oval office replicas. this is distinct for two reasons. number one it is slightly smaller than the actual oval office. this is seven-eighth to scale. it was added as an after thought. president johnson wanted visitors to the library to see where the president worked but we didn't have a large enough space to accommodate the oval office so it is slightly smaller than the actual oval office. another thing that makes it unique is this is the actual furniture in lyndon johnson's white house including his desk. this is not the resolute desk that we all associate with the

president. the desk that president obama currently uses and many of us recognize in the photo of john f. kennedy jr. popping out at this father's desk. johnson because he wanted to take his furniture back to his presidential library opted to use the desk that he had as a senator. he used this when he was senate majority leader and used it as vice president and took it to the oval office when he ascended to the presidency. that is his chair. that is his telephone. this is his suite of furniture including the rocking chair that he sat in. you will recognize that as similar to the rocking chairs that john f. kennedy used when he was president done by the same manufacturer. every president of course, gets to choose the portraits that he wants